In this era of the worldwide web, we are not new to the video-sharing website, YouTube. Everyone, be it a prince or a pauper knows about YouTube and age is no barrier as even our grandparents and great-grandparents have all watched one or more of such videos on YouTube. For some YouTube is a source of entertainment by watching funny cat videos and listening to music while others especially amateur musicians use it as a platform to launch their careers.
This service was created by former PayPal employees Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim registering the site on Valentines Day in 2005. It was bought over by Google for US$ 1.65 billion in November 2006 and now operates as one of its subsidiaries. As per Alexa, YouTube is the 3rd most viewed website in the world after Google and Facebook and 60 hours of video gets uploaded every minute with 4 billion videos watched everyday. YouTube is now a crucial component of the music industry and as it celebrates 10 years of loyal service to our beloved industry, here are 7 interesting facts I observed about YouTube in relation to music.
1.
A Platform for Musicians
Many musicians and bands upload their original songs or covers
on YouTube and this in turn gets them an audience, which includes music
producers, and record labels who then sign them on if there is potential talent
to be developed. The best example for this is Justin Bieber as Scooter Braun
discovered him through YouTube. Other such artists include Karmin, Esmee
Denters, Cody Simpson, Austin Mahone, 5 Seconds of Summer, Lindsey Stirling and
Pentatonix.
2.
The Viral Phenomenon
Going viral in relation to music is when songs and/or music
videos become very popular by circulating at a rapid pace over the Internet.
And the main platform for this is of course YouTube. Justin Bieber already
being a YouTube celebrity received wide attention when his hit single Baby went
viral on the site, but as of now it is the most disliked video on the site as
well. We cannot forget Rebecca Black with her disastrous hit Friday, which went
viral mostly because it was so bad.
3.
View Count Sensation
Music videos such as Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball and Nicki
Minaj’s Ananconda went viral over night with Wrecking Ball garnering 19.3
million views in just 24-hours, the record of which was broken by Anaconda
garnering 19.6 million views in the same period. Moreover, we cannot forget the
trends set by Baauer’s Harlem Shake, which sparked off millions of videos on
the site, and PSY’s Gangnam Style, which holds the record for being the most
viewed music video in the world with over 2 billion views and setting a global trend
with the unique dance.
4.
The Streaming Effect
Billboard, the UK Official Charts and other national charts in
the world also now calculate streaming music in forming the charts. Views on
leading online music services among which YouTube is the most prominent are
calculated to determine chart positions. This allows mainstream artists/bands
and trending genres to gain an upper hand in claiming top spots on the charts.
Nicki Minaj, Drake, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Selena
Gomez, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Eminem, One Direction and particularly Miley Cyrus all benefit from
the fact they are almost always trending on social media.
5.
The Parody Experience
While a musical parody is a not a new concept, YouTube takes
it to another level, as now there is an accompanying video. Some of the most
popular parody makers are Weird Al Yankovic, The Key of Awesome and Bart Baker.
6.
The Publicity Proficiency
While YouTube is great for musicians in most ways, it has its
downside as a global forum opening the floodgates for constant criticism. As
the center of social media for videos it is prone to gossip and scandals. While
Miley Cyrus smoking weed on stage at an award ceremony or Lady Gaga adorning a
meat dress are definitely publicity stunts, they have also backfired with
parents as well as anti-drug and animal rights activists. However, some artists
especially ones like Miley Cyrus will take whatever form of publicity they can
get.
7.
YouTube Music Awards
As a tribute to its most popular category, YouTube hosted
their inaugural Music Awards in 2013 with its second edition to be held in
2015. The winners of the 2013 edition in their respective categories are as
follows:
-
Video of the Year: Girls’ Generation – I Got A
Boy
-
Artist of the Year: Eminem
-
Responses of the Year: Lindsey Stirling &
Pentatonix – Radioactive
-
YouTube Phenomenon: Taylor Swift – I Knew You
Were Trouble
-
YouTube Breakthroughs: Macklemore & Ryan
Lewis
-
Innovation of the Year: DeStorm – See Me
Standing
Till the next stream…
At Ease!!!
